GAME of CHAIRS by Nikita Teryoshin

“In the weeks leading up to the 2017 federal election, the political parties reaffirm their identities at their national conventions. Primarily, these large-scale events are about creating images—images meant to appear on prime-time news broadcasts likeTagesthemenandheute journal. The effort that goes into staging these events is immense: sets are built, tons of cables are laid, and sound and lighting are meticulously controlled. Every shot has to be perfect. The parties and their prominent representatives want—and need—to look good.

But they didn’t count on Nikita Teryoshin. Who's going to tell the photographer what kind of images he’s allowed to create? Teryoshin takes mischievous pleasure in exposing the media-savvy self-dramatization of politics. It’s possible to subvert it.

And only then does it truly become visible.

Photographer Nikita Teryoshin is a guest at the national party conventions of the CDU, SPD, Greens, and The Left.“